The Voice's closest vote of Season 10 left viewers pretty peeved

Passionate about dance, Stephanie's love of reality television and celebrity entertainment began with "Dancing with the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance." She has since discovered the wonders of the "Real Housewives," the Kardashia...

The super-close vote on The Voice shows the competition is hotter than ever

People continually claim that Alisan Porter is bound to win Season 10 of The Voice and make Christina Aguilera the show's first victorious female coach. But while Porter certainly has a lot of potential, she's by no means guaranteed a win. After all, Season 10 has proven surprisingly competitive, and viewers often make very unexpected choices. This was evident tonight, for while Porter made it through to the Top 8 with no problem, two other stars duked it out for that final spot in next week's episode — and wow, those results were close!

Typically, when The Voice breaks for commercials, voting progress is shown in a prominent bar graph. During this time, it's usually quite easy to predict who is going to move on and who is about to be sent packing. This week, however, it was a true mystery, with Nick Hagelin and Paxton Ingram in a dead heat. While waiting to hear the results, I assumed that Hagelin would probably be ousted, because it's rare for a competitor to be saved two weeks in a row. I was proven correct, but not by much, as the vote was settled by fewer than 100 tweets.

Image: NBC

The very close nature of tonight's Instant Save underscores the importance of voting, at least for hardcore fans of The Voice. The results are sometimes very close, and when two stars are equally popular, every vote really does count.

Regardless of the accuracy of The Voice's reporting, it's clear that the show is only going to get more competitive. The remaining contestants will have to fight harder than ever to remain in the running — and I am excited to see them convince America that Alisan Porter is not an automatic champion!